Where Basalt earns its living
The trip to work takes 29 minutes on average; Idaho averages 22, the U.S. 26. Only 3% work in Basalt itself; outside it, Idaho Falls draws the most (27%, 14 miles). 228 jobs are based in Basalt, and 153 of its residents work somewhere.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How many people are in Basalt by day
On a workday 148 residents head out to work, 5 work right here, and 223 people come in from elsewhere.
About 450 people are in Basalt on a workday afternoon, 20% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.49 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The places Basalt commutes to
Where Basalt clocks in
27% of workers
8% of workers
6% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
89% of the jobs in Basalt make or build things
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Basalt, 2013 → 2023: 284 → 228. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Basalt’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 29 minutes to work from Basalt
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Basalt workers work from home, vs 13% across Idaho. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 231 commuters (the 14% who work from home are left out). Across Idaho: 84% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Half of Basalt commutes less than 14 miles
About 15% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Basalt: questions
What is the median household income in Basalt?
$78,472 (±$29,988) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,800 across Idaho and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Basalt?
1.4%, against 10.6% across Idaho and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Basalt?
29 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Idaho and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Basalt work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Idaho Falls (27%, 14 mi), Firth (8%, 1 mi), Blackfoot (6%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Basalt without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Basalt, from the people who make the trip.
More of Basalt
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer.